What you’re about to read will probably fly in the face of virtually every modern marketing axiom you’ve come to know and love, but we think it needs to be said.

You may be spending too much time thinking about your customers.

Sacrilege, right? Well, before you go burning us in effigy, hear us out.

We’re in no way trying to downplay the importance of focusing on your customer’s wants and needs. In fact, you’ll probably never find a bigger advocate for the whole, “start with the end user and work backward” approach to marketing than us. That said, we have witnessed some organizations who have become so fixated on their external audience, that they have lost sight of another—equally important—audience, their employees.

It’s no coincidence that companies like Google, Southwest Airlines, Chevron and REI maintain mega-brand status while being ranked as some of the best organizations to work for in the country. These companies understand that happy employees do better work, better work creates a better product and a better product creates brand loyalty. They have also learned that by creating a great work environment they can attract higher-quality employees—employees that will stick around and contribute to the company’s long-term brand consistency.

Beyond that, we’ve all read stories about Google’s employee-centric campus or seen firsthand the freedom Southwest Airlines gives its flight crew and each of these experiences undoubtedly play a part in shaping our brand perceptions whether we know it or not.

The reverse is also true.

Recently, while we were waiting for a pizza at a large national chain, we witnessed a manager barking orders and berating a group of well-meaning, high-school-aged employees. We sat there in awe as she repeatedly treated her staff incredibly rudely only to turn on the charm every time a customer walked in the door. Not only did the whole situation make us extremely uncomfortable and tainted our opinion of the chain, it made us question the quality of the product we would soon be taking home. Could one of those kids be taking their frustrations out on our pie?

Above all, it is important to remember that anyone a potential customer comes in contact with within your company is your company. Each employee on your payroll represents your brand, so treat them that way.

What you can do to create a great corporate culture

1. Hire the right people
   Not only do you need to find the people who have the talent and experience you’re looking for, you need the people who exemplify the culture you’re trying to create and can accurately represent your brand.
2. Give them the freedom to be themselves and contribute
   Believe it or not, hiring the right person is sometimes the easy part, reminding yourself that you hired the right person and getting out of their way is where things can get tricky. Don Beggs, the former president of Wichita State University, was notorious for ending a meeting with, “you’re the expert, do what you think is best.” It was that level of trust that earned him a tremendous amount of respect and gave his employees the confidence to do great work.
3. Avoid rigid corporate hierarchies that create unneeded competition and territorial disputes
   The infamous org chart has been the death of many a good company culture (and don’t get us started on HR handbooks). While it is obviously necessary to have a clear chain of command, instilling an atmosphere of collaboration over competition will almost always create happy employees and better results.
4. Incentivize
   There’s a reason why citizens of communist countries are downtrodden, not being rewarded for your hard work is demoralizing. Incentives can come in a variety of forms, but they do have to have real value otherwise they can backfire.
5. Invest in them
   Throwing money at your employees in the form of bonuses and raises isn’t always an option but you can invest in them through additional tools and resources, training or anything else that will make them feel valued and help them do their job.
6. Treat them like family
   More often than not, you spend more time with the people you work with than you do with your own family, so why not treat them like it? Get to know them on a (non-creepy) personal level, care about them and their lives away from work and realize that there is more to them than what they do for a living.
7. Celebrate them and never take them for granted (cheerlead)
   We believe that being a good manager consists of being both a coach and a cheerleader. While your primary job is to lay out a good game plan and make any necessary adjustments along the way, you also need to be supportive—pick your team members up when they fail and toss them on your shoulders when they succeed.

Make it your own

Not every corporate headquarters needs ball pits, sleep pods or ping pong tables. Create the environment and corporate culture that fits who you are, the brand you’re trying to develop and the customers you want to attract. Authenticity is key, don’t try to be something you’re not or—worse yet—something you think you should be.

Have an idea you’d like to add, or an example to share (good or bad)? Let us hear about it in the comment section below or feel free to contact us.